Question: The equation $x^2+12x=73$ has two solutions. The positive solution has the form $\sqrt{a}-b$ for positive natural numbers $a$ and $b$. What is $a+b$?
Answer: Completing the square, we add $(12/2)^2=36$ to both sides of the equation to get $x^2+12x+36=109 \Rightarrow (x+6)^2=109$. Taking the square root of both sides, we get $x+6=\sqrt{109}$ (we take the positive square root because we want the positive solution), or $x=\sqrt{109}-6$. Thus, $a=109$ and $b=6$, so $a+b=\boxed{115}$.